The 20 most promising K-stars who were born in the Year of the Horse

by Seulki Yu on Fri, Jan 17, 2014

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According to the Chinese zodiac, 2014 is the Year of the Horse in East Asian culture. Recently, the Korean community portal site DC Inside conducted a survey titled "2014, the most promising K-stars who were born in the Year of the Horse." Korean stars who were born in 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, and 2002 were eligible to be candidates in this survey, and here are the results of the votes.

Top 10 K-Female stars of the Year of the Horse (A total of 15,071 votes from 12/31/13-1/7/14)

Female stars who were born in 1990 gained power and popularity from their dramas in 2013. Compared to K-male stars on the list who were born in the Year of the Horse, these actresses are much younger.

The actress Go Ah Ra was chosen as the most promising female star born in the Year of the Horse. She tried to change her goddess image to ordinary girl throughAnswer Me 1994, which turned out to be a success as she overwhelmingly garnered 52.6% of the votes. She played Sung Na Jung who was a cheerful and honest college student. Through this character, Go Ah Ra finally succeeded in proving her existence as a talented actress.

Everybody always loves Park Shin Hye! She is ranked No.2 on this survey. She starred in Heirs, which finished the end of 2013 but has been popular even till now, as Cha Eun Sang who was poor but had a strong heart. Park Shin Hye has played alongside many actors who I love, but I am not envious of her because I like her and her attitude. Sometimes I wish she would fall in love with an actor who she stars in K-dramas with. Maybe that means I have the heart of Shin Hye’s unnie.

She is one of the successful actresses who are also active singers. Yoon Ah hasn’t achieved recognition as a real actress yet, but she has the power of her name and a reputation as a star, and we can’t deny that this is important for K-dramas to be successful. Starring in more works will help her improve her acting ability. Now she is starring in The Prime Minister and I, and learning a lot from other senior cast members.

You might not be familiar with her. Kang So Ra is starring in K-daily drama Ugly Alert. This drama has high popularity so many Korean people know her, and she is ranked 4th. You might have watched her in Dream High 2 or We Got Married. She and Leeteuk were one of the couples of that program.

A baby face is usually a strong point for a K-star, but sometimes it isn’t because it doesn’t mean youth. It means child-like, and it can be an obstacle for actresses to play a variety characters. Yes, Baek Jin Hee’s weak point as an actress is that. She looks so young that still looks like a school girl. But her child-like image and pure face make it fun to watch her charm, which is a perfectly fit for the spoiled childish character Tanasily of Empress Ki.

Soo Young is falling in love with K-actor Jung Kyung Ho. When I see her, I think that she is just walking her way step by step as a woman, and not just a member of a Korean girl group or actress. Honestly, she wasn’t the member of Girl’s Generation who drew a lot of people’s attentions, but she keeps building her career up, and now she is active as an MC, actress, and singer. She doesn’t always make an intense impression, but I think that’s why many people chose her as No.6 on this list, anticipating her next step.

Ha Ji Won has been on the top for a long time so I think this ranking is meaningless for her. A reason why people voted for her is because now she is starring in Empress Ki, and people couldn’t pass her name up. She is the only one on this list who was born in 1978.

8. Park Kyung Ri of 9muses 1990 (0.4%, 67 votes)

9muses are famous for their tall height and beautiful figures. One of the members, Kyung R,i is very popular among Korean men, and her makeup style is popular among Korean women.

Park Shin Hye is an actress who starred in many K-dramas with popular actors like Lee Min Ho, Jang Geun Sunk and Jung Yong Hwa. However, in the Korean movie field, Park Bo Young is the winner, who has played with the all pretty men like Lee Min Ho, Song Joong Ki and Lee Jong Suk. She is an icon of Korean men's first love.

10. Kim Ji Sook of Rainbow 1990 (0.3%, 40 votes)

She is really handy when it comes to writing Korean. I don’t know her reputation as an idol but I saw that her pretty handwriting drew people’s attention. And when she debuted, she was famous for being familiar with Tae Yeon of SNSD.

Top 10 K-male stars of the Year of the Horse (A total of 720 votes from 12/24/13-12/31/13)

Unlike the fact that many of the K-female stars on the list are from dramas, many of the K-male stars are singers, and some of them are starring in K-variety shows. It is good to see K-male stars in both their 30’s and 20’s.

Joo Sang Wook is a very diligent actor. Last year, he lived a busy life by starring in two K-dramas, Good Doctor and T.E.N 2, and one movie. After Miss Korea finishes, his new K-drama Cunning Single Lady will air in February

Running Man’s member Gary and Infinite Challenge’s member Gil are Hip-Hop duo ‘Leessang’. Gary has recently released his first solo album in 16 years since they made their debut. His new songs are banned from some public TV networks, and his album shows quite a different side of Gary than in his shows.

Ha Jung Woo is a movie star who starred in three movies last year, and he also directed, and wrote his own movie. He is suitable for action, thriller and even romance so he is popular among men, women and also directors.

4. Jong Hyun of SHINee 1990 (6.8%, 49 votes)

SHINee’s Jong Hyun is a young singer who has his own belief and thought. He keeps interacting with his fans, and trying to have better performances. Many idol members are trying to be actors, but I want him to concentrate on his career as a singer.

5. Xiumin of EXO 1990 (6.5%, 47 votes)

I write this entry with selfish interest. To me, Xiumin was why I got to know EXO and started to like them. Last year, he had many nicknames in Korea, like 머글킹 Muggle King (King of muggles), and 영업왕 Sales King because he drew many new fans like me during their activities for their first regular album. He is a member of EXO-M, which is a unit group for China, but last year all of EXO’s members were active in Korea so many Korean fans know of his high existence.

Seung Ri’s popularity doesn’t totter by any scandal related to him. He remains undiminished. Now he is active as a MC of a Japanese TV show, and a member of Big Bang as usual like his original character 야망돌 Idol of ambition.

He was a gag-man who was good at everything except making people laugh in the past, but now he is very funny. His character is supremely confident, and even arrogant sometimes, but we are attracted to that. Especially last year, he was a partner of GD for K-variety TV show Infinity Challenge’s music festival, and they won Best Couple Award of MBC’s Entertainment Award in the end of 2013.

I saw him in the K-drama Monstarfor the first time, and then he starred in the K-drama Two Weeks, Heirs and a special short drama. After Heirs, he has been busy on stage in plays. Hyo Shin Sunbae is the first character that made us remember his name, but I know he will become an actor who won’t be tied down by one character.

Go Kyung Pyo is a quite new actor who is tall, handsome and young, and a prince of Korean cable channel tvN. He was a member of SNL Korea' crew and starred in Flower Boy Next Door. Now he is starring in tvN's first sitcom Potato Star. He still has a long way to raise his fame but the day will be coming soon.

10. Yang Yo Seob of Beast 1990 (2.6%, 19 votes)

Yang Yo Seob is the member of BEAST who has the best singing ability. He is in charge of their cute aegyo and is the main vocal in the group.

There are many other talented K-stars who were born in the Year of the Horse. I hope this year will be their best year with horses sweeping everything before them.